Annual Report 1998/99

The academic year 1998/99 was the second year of the implementation of quality assurance (QA) inspection.  This report gives an overview of the general situation of school education in the 1998/99 academic year based on the QA inspection findings in the 46 schools inspected in the year.  Both the strengths and the areas for improvement as identified through the inspection of these schools were reported. Schools' work was assessed in the following four domains of (1) Management & Organisation; (2) Teaching & Learning; (3) Support for Pupils & School Ethos; and (4) Attainment & Achievement.

Response to the QA inspection from the schools inspected has been positive. The keen attitude shown by the 46 schools in the QA inspections is much appreciated.  Through QA inspection, these schools can benefit from an external review on the performance of the various aspects of their work and advice on identified issues for improvement and development.  Besides, examples of good practice gathered from the schools inspected can be disseminated to other educational practitioners.

For the 1998/99 academic year, the Education Department (ED) still adopted the practice of inspecting schools which had volunteered.  In the choice of the schools, care was taken to strike a suitable balance in the number of schools by type, by district and by sponsor.  In terms of size and coverage, the 46 schools inspected by no means constituted a representative sample to establish an overall picture on the performance of Hong Kong schools as a whole.  The findings in this report need to be interpreted with care.  The report, however, serves to inform the readers of the general performance of the schools inspected, their good practices, and the major areas of concern that require their urgent attention.

The report aims at providing an overview of the strengths and areas for improvement in the 46 schools inspected.  Because of this orientation, more sophisticated statistical analyses involving standard deviation and chi-square have not been applied.